Painting a Chin Splitter… Yay or Nay

[BlueChappy]

So I have the CDC classic chin spoiler painted to match my car. For those that have splitters, have you painted them? I’m trying to decide whether I want to keep it raw, paint it, or even just clear coat the raw plastic to give it a better shine.

If you have pictures, that would help me decide even more.

(I tried to find this topic in the forums, but couldn’t find it. If it’s already there, please let me know where I can find it and I’ll go there.)

 

[07 Boss]

Paint it to match

 

[Pentalab]

Mine is a 2010 GT in black. Since the car is already black, I left the CDC lower chin spoiler alone. It's been scraped a few times in the last 9 yrs. Abt 2 weeks ago, I came down my daughters steep dirt + gravel driveway..and nailed the cdc lower chin spoiler, on a rock.... aprx 2' from the main road. Up came a cloud of debris. Turns out I split the damn chin spoiler, from the top..almost to the bottom on passenger side, right where it curves around the side. The new CDC splitter just arrived last week. And no, I'm not gonna paint it black either. The most it ever needs is some armoural once every 2 months in the spring/summer / fall.

On the 10-11-12 cars the CDC lower chin spoiler has intake brake ducts on each side, so I bought the optional CDC front brake duct kit, which included 2 x lengths of 2.5" ID silicone hose, and 2 x new 14.5" front dust covers, complete with the oval shaped pieces welded on... that the silicone hoses slide over. On the back end of the CDC lower chin spoiler, the ducts are injection molded right into the lower chin spoiler..and come out the back side like a pipe on each side. The brake duct kit also comes with 2 x abs plastic fittings, that screw onto these pair of short pipes. The one on the passenger side is unique, it has an offset built into it, so it goes down, then a right angle... designed that way to go under the windshield wiper fluid bottle.

In normal operation, the brake duct cooling works superb. No more brake stink, if you happen to be heavy handed on the brakes. My 18" x 10" wheels won't clear the typ 14" big brake kits so still using the oem 12.4" rotors, and HPS pads ( + SS braided front and rear brake lines + better grade of brake fluid). I tried the CDC brake kit as an experiment, and it has worked out very well...for a street car. Stick your head out the window at 50-100 mph..air is free, so why not use it.

On the 10-11-12 cars the oem upper grille is 80% blocked off. Replaced with a 7 bar grille (which also deletes the oen upper foglamps + pony etc). I looked at the 5 bar lower grille, similar to what you have, but decided it impeded airflow too much. I need all the air I can get into both upper + lower grilles, since I have a small roush M90 blower, 18" tall x 21" wide HE etc.

 

[stkjock]

I think in general it looks better if it matches. Some colors I’d say no.

 

[cavero]

If your side skirts are textured black, I'd leave it unpainted to match. Otherwise if they're painted I'd agree paint to match.

I've done both painted and raw, but in both cases I matched it with my rocker panels. I personally like the black look, makes the car look sleeker instead of beefier, but my cars a lighter color than yours

 

[GlassTop09]

+1 w\ cavero...............

Here's a dirty picture of my Stang w\ CDC chin spoiler, CDC side skirts, Roush rear skirts & JLT mud flaps all in unpainted raw textured out of the box condition.............

 

[Laga]

Mine is on a 2005 and has been painted twice. The first time was when it was new, the second was when the car wouldn’t start and the tow truck driver did this.
He cracked it when he tried to pull it up on the flat bed. I was there and took photos of everything. Since the tow truck was sent by the roadside insurance, I simply called the agent and filed a claim. They paid of a new spoiler, paint and install. I repaired the old one and installed it myself. After the body shop charged me $125 to paint, I pocketed about $500.
A painted chin spoiler looks good, but it does get beat up pretty quick from road debris. Most of those white marks in the photo are salt stains and not scratches.

 

[Laga]

View attachment 79541Mine is on a 2005 and has been painted twice. The first time was when it was new, the second was when the car wouldn’t start and the tow truck driver did this. View attachment 79541
He cracked it when he tried to pull it up on the flat bed. I was there and took photos of everything. Since the tow truck was sent by the roadside insurance, I simply called the agent and filed a claim. They paid of a new spoiler, paint and install. I repaired the old one and installed it myself. After the body shop charged me $125 to paint, I pocketed about $500.
A painted chin spoiler looks good, but it does get beat up pretty quick from road debris. Most of those white marks in the photo are salt stains and not scratches.

 

[tabstang]

I've got something like this on my 07 GT cvt.: https://www.ebay.com/itm/360850132111
I like the old school trans-am look (see below).

I plasti-dipped it first, which was GREAT! (I also did the rockers, cuz I have a GT500 rear bumper cover with the black bottom.) It's gonna get scratched, you can count on it - just lay on another coat of plasti-dip and foggedaboudit. If you decide you don't like it peel it off and start over - awesome.

However after losing a challenge from herd of deer I had it painted with the rest of the car. It looks great - but I'm going back to black plasti-dip. Why? 1. to match the rockers and rear bumper - I like the look, and 2. to protect the shiny new paint.

If you go with plasti-dip, make sure you apply it thick enough, or it won't want to peel off. Minimum 3 coats, 4-5 better.

 

[tjm73]

Guess I'm odd guy out. Raw. It looks kinda like the black spoilers from the '69-'70 cars.

 

[Max70]

I like it half painted

 

[TRC51]

Like most choices when you you talk about exterior mods, I think it depends on the look you want to have for the car. I personally like the Chip Foose approach that makes people think about what's really different about the car.... so I chose to leave it black on my car so it would look stock. The rear was also done, but the painter actually painted it by mistake. I wasn't happy about it, but at the same time it still looks good. Also keep in mind that paint chips.

 

[dustyn83]

I like it half painted View attachment 79694

It looks really nice. Thanks for the idea.

 

[BlueChappy]

So I made a decision to just use black magic to bring out the natural black on the splitter.

 

[DieHarder]

I like it half painted View attachment 79694

The custom lights look cool. I redid mine using projectors. Working on a write up I'll put out in the not-to-distant future.